With serious phraseology, were rents
That in his garments opened in spite of him,
Through which the well-accustomed eye could see
The rottenness of his heart. None deeper blushed,
As in the all-piercing light he stood exposed,
No longer herding with the holy ones:
Yet still he tried to bring his countenance
To sanctimonious seeming; but, meanwhile,
The shame within, now visible to all,
His purpose baulked: the righteous smiled; and
Despair itself some signs of laughter gave,
As ineffectually he strove to wipe
His brow, that inward guiltiness defiled.
Detected wretch! of all the reprobate,
None seemed maturer for the flames of hell;
Where still his face, from ancient custom, wears
A holy air, which says to all that pass
Him by, 'I was a hypocrite on earth.""
RUMOR AND HER SATELLITES.
"That was the hour which measured out to each,
Impartially, his share of reputation;
Correcting all mistakes, and from the name
Of the good man all slanders wiping off.
Good name was dear to all: without it, none
Could soundly sleep, even on a royal bed,
Or drink with relish from a cup of gold;
And with it, on his borrowed straw, or by
The leafless hedge, beneath the open heavens,
The weary beggar took untroubled rest.
It was a music of most heavenly tone,
To which the heart leaped joyfully, and all
The spirits danced: for honest fame, men laid
Their heads upon the block, and while the axe
Descended, looked and smiled.. It was of price
Invaluable: riches, health, repose,
Whole kingdoms, life, were given for it, and he
Who got it, was the winner still; and he
Who sold it, durst not open his ear, nor look
On human face, he knew himself so vile.
Yet it, with all its preciousness, was due
To Virtue, and around her should have shed,
Unasked, its savory smell; but Vice, deformed
Itself, and ugly, and of flavor rank,
To rob fair Virtue of so sweet an incense,
And with it to anoint and salve its own
Rotten ulcers, and perfume the path that led
To death, strove daily by a thousand means;
And oft succeeded to make Virtue sour
In the world's nostrils, and its loathly self
Smell sweetly. Rumor was the messenger
Of defamation, and so swift that none
Could be the first to tell an evil tale;
And was withal so infamous for lies,
That he who of her sayings on his creed
The fewest entered, was deemed wisest man
The fool, and many who had credit too
For wisdom, grossly swallowed all she said,
Unsifted; and although at every word
They heard her contradict herself, and saw
Hourly they were imposed upon, and mocked,
Yet still they ran to hear her speak; and stared,
And wondered much, and stood aghast, and said,
It could not be; and while they blushed for shame
At their own faith, and seemed to doubt, believed;
And whom they met, with many sanctions, told.
So did experience fail to teach; so hard
It was to learn this simple truth-confirmed
At every corner by a thousand proofs-
That common fame most impudently lied."
"'Twas Slander filled her mouth with lying words;
Slander, the foulest whelp of Sin: the man
In whom this spirit entered, was undone :
His tongue was set on fire of hell; his heart
Was black as death; his legs were faint with haste
To propagate the lie his soul had framed;
His pillow was the peace of families
Destroyed, the sigh of innocence reproached,
Broken friendships, and the strife of brotherhoods:
Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock
Number the midnight watches, on his bed
Devising mischief more; and early rose,
And made most hellish meals of good men's names.
"From door to door you might have seen him
speed,
Or placed amidst a group of gaping fools,
And whispering in their ears with his foul lips.
Peace fled the neighborhood in which he made
His haunts; and, like a moral pestilence,
Before his breath the healthy shoots and blooms Of social joy, and happiness, decayed.
Fools only in his company were seen,
And those forsaken of God, and to themselves
Given up: the prudent shunned him, and his house,
As one who had a deadly moral plague;
And fain would all have shunned him at the day
Of judgment; but in vain. All who gave ear
With greediness, or wittingly their tongues
Made herald to his lies, around him wailed;
While on his face, thrown back by injured men,
In characters of ever-blushing shame,
Appeared ten thousand slanders, all his own."
"Among the accursed, who sought a hiding-place In vain from fierceness of Jehovah's rage, And from the hot displeasure of the Lamb, Most wretched, most contemptible, most vile, Stood the false priest, and in his conscience felt The fellest gnaw of the undying Worm. And so he might: for he had on his hands The blood of souls, that would not wipe away. Hear what he was: He swore in sight of God, And man, to preach his master, Jesus Christ; Yet preached himself: he swore that love of souls, Alone, had drawn him to the church; yet strewed The path that led to hell with tempting flowers, And in the ear of sinners, as they took
The way of death, he whispered peace: he swore Away all love of lucre, all desire
Of earthly pomp; and yet a princely seat
He liked, and to the clink of Mammon's box
Gave most rapacious ear: his prophecies
He swore were from the Lord; and yet taught lies For gain; with quackish ointment healed the wounds
And bruises of the soul outside, but left
Within the pestilent matter, unobserved,
Το sap the moral constitution quite,
And soon to burst again, incurable.
He with untempered mortar daubed the walls
Of Zion, saying, 'Peace,' when there was none.
The man who came with thirsty soul to hear
Of Jesus, went away unsatisfied:
For he another gospel preached than Paul,
And one that had no Saviour in 't. And yet
His life was worse. Faith, charity, and love,
Humility, forgiveness, holiness,
Were words well lettered in his Sabbath creed;
But with his life he wrote as plain, Revenge,
Pride, tyranny, and lust of wealth and
Inordinate, and lewdness unashamed.
He was a wolf in clothing of the lamb,
That stole into the fold of God, and on
The blood of souls which he did sell to death,
Grew fat; and yet when any would have turned
Him out, he cried, "Touch not the priest of God!'
And that he was anointed, fools believed;
But knew, that day, he was the devil's priest,
Anointed by the hands of Sin and Death,
And set peculiarly apart to ill;
|